Sigma Alpha Epsilon, the fraternity at the center of a hazing scandal at Salisbury University, has announced it has eliminated pledging nationwide. / Staff photo by Todd Dudek

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SALISBURY — The fraternity at the center of a hazing scandal at Salisbury University has announced it has eliminated pledging.

The change affects all of Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s 226 chapters and 15 colonies nationwide, the group said in a statement. The new policy goes into effect today.

The fraternity said it will treat all members “equally and fairly” regardless of tenure. It is implementing a new program, called the True Gentlemen Experience, that it hopes will “eliminate a class structure between our new members and our active members” and instill leadership skills.

The announcement came as some of its chapters’ alleged harsh pledging practices come under scrutiny in Annapolis and beyond.

A state Senate committee heard last week about many of the hazing practices in and around Salisbury that caused former student Justin Stuart to report Sigma Alpha Epsilon to officials. Lawmakers are considering increasing criminal penalties for hazing, they say.

Stuart, an SU freshman at the time who has since transferred to the University of Maryland, reported the hazing to Salisbury police in the spring semester of 2012 after he concluded the Sigma Alpha Epsilon brothers' initiation had gone too far.

Allegations detailed in university police reports gave these accounts:

• Pledges were kept in a dark basement for many hours without food, water or bathroom breaks while techno music played at loud volume.

• They were forced to stand in a trash can filled with ice water while clad only in underwear. The students were forced to recite the Greek alphabet and had cold water thrown on them if they made a mistake, the university police reports said.

• They were blindfolded, placed in the back seat of a car and driven around at high speeds without the use of seat belts.

SU suspended the fraternity for a year and a half. That suspension was extended another 15 months, until summer 2015, after a university panel charged the campus chapter with recruiting members while on suspension.

A Bloomberg investigation revealed 10 deaths at Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapters nationwide since 2006, the most of any Greek organization.

The fraternity acknowledged in the statement that “bad publicity” as well as the injuries and deaths were factors in the decision, but not the only factors.

“We are making this change because it’s the right thing to do and because we firmly believe in returning to what our (fraternity’s) Founding Fathers envisioned,” the group said.